Few would consider Secrets to be one of the best designs made by Eric M. Lang or his codesigner from my side of the pond, Bruno Faidutti. And yet, this lesser game of social deduction has managed to hit my table more than thirty different times. As players change sides, flip cards and betray their countries in order to become hippies, its flaws might be hard to ignore, but the fun of the resulting experience is also undeniable.
Knizia’s Modern Art has seen no less than 28 different editions from all over the world. Some of them, like the one released by CMON, or the most recent one by Dicetree are quite beautiful. Perhaps, a little too much. The inclusion of famous artists, like Munch, Picasso and Cezanne, over the parodies found in the original has a profound impact on the game’s message and heavily undermines its brilliant satire.
On July 8th, the Spanish Congress approved a new law regulating the audiovisual industry. For the first time, these regulations will include a section on “users of special relevance in video exchange services”, what we normally know as content creators, streamers and Youtubers. How will this law affect them?
Slay the Spire is the world’s first deckbuilding roguelike. If you favour video games, you may recognize one of these terms. If you prefer board games, the other. Chances are, you won’t know either! However, there’s no need to. Its fusion of the digital tradition of dungeon crawls with the innovative card-play of the tabletop is excellent on its own.
Modern designers try not to include poor mechanics in their games. Losing a turn, for example, used to be absolutely commonplace, until they realized that not being able to play wasn’t much fun. However, designers are not always successful at avoiding their use. Sometimes, they make their way in, unintentionally. This is the case of Vagrantsong, whose 1920s cartoon extravagance is contrasted by its dated mechanical design.
